Comments | hamsterwoman: Reading roundup

hamsterwoman

Reading roundup

Feb 05, 2011 15:34

3. Steven Brust, The Phoenix Guards -- I enjoyed it more than I thought I would, though I still definitely prefer the Vlad Taltos books. Paarfi's style is something I find more frustrating than funny, especially when it comes to dialogue, a deterrent rather than a bonus when it comes to this series. But, OK, it was not too bad. ( More, with spoilers )

a: diana peterfreund, ya, taltos, a: charlaine harris, short stories, rampant, a: jim butcher, a: adam rex, reading, sookie stackhouse, dresden files, a: holly black, a: steven brust

Comments 16

tabacoychanel February 6 2011, 00:23:28 UTC

the sweet far thing is a bit of a letdown. i mean, not HP epilogue levels of letdown, but my kingdom for a fantasy author who knows how to end their series with a bigger bang than they began it.

i have not read any of these books. this is my sadface when i can't talk to you about books and i suffer from withdrawal.

hamsterwoman February 6 2011, 05:54:19 UTC

Yeah, I've heard that about The Sweet Far Thing, so I'm not really in a hurry to read it. And you're right that it seems to be a common affliction with fantasy series, *sigh*

The solution is simple: You have to read the Vorkosigan Saga! (Or The Demon's Lexicon. Or...) :P

(The comment has been removed)

hamsterwoman February 6 2011, 06:00:05 UTC

I DID NOT NOTICE THISWell, it was transliterated Russian, which looks largely like gibberish. I think if I weren't so used to typing in translit, I may have just overlooked it. (I think either this comes up again in one of the later Khaavren books or there's another author who uses Russian as a fantasy language, because I remember leafing through a book at the bookstore which had the Russian phrase "Evil consumers of horse flesh!", and it was so random that I still remember it like 15 years later XD ( ... )

firebluespinel February 6 2011, 03:53:35 UTC

OMG Side Jobs! So glad you read and commented. There's a lot of good stuff there, and I liked a lot of the same things you liked. (Cobs were great, Thomas' POV was enjoyable, and garlic spitting FTW!) But as far as your main complaint goes...I gotta be honest here. I'm a guy. And Jim Butcher is a guy. And unless I miss my guess, at least half (if not a lot more) of his readers are probably guys. And guys like to hear about boobs/naked chicks/damsels in distress/sexy mind magic/etc. Even intelligent, mature guys like me, who appreciate how much Murphy, Gard, Charity, Luccio, Susan, Elaine, Lara, Molly and the Leanansidhe are by and large very deep, well-thought-out, awesome characters who kick tons of ass in their own right, and don't always (or even often) need men around to help with it, like to hear about those things at the same time. You're right that there are a lot of female kidnap victims, gratuitous female-body descriptions and visualizations, and I can see why it might bother you in a way that it doesn't bother me. You're ( ... )

hamsterwoman February 6 2011, 06:31:33 UTC

But I feel like Butcher does a really good job balancing that out with women who are much more than a pretty face and a nice figure. (Plus the whole initial premise of Small Favor was the rescue of Marcone, a man's male character if ever I've seen one.) I *loved* that aspect of Small Favor! One of the reasons I loved that book as much as I did ( ... )

lyssa027 February 6 2011, 05:17:49 UTC

I agree, I don't think short stories are Butcher's best genre, I did enjoy The Warrior though ;-)

I haven't read Dead in the Family yet so I didn't read that review, I'm waiting till it comes out in paperback

hamsterwoman February 6 2011, 06:01:34 UTC

"The Warrior" was one of the better ones. I'm actually a little amazed by how much I like the Carpenters, given that I think deeply religious characters are quite hard to do well.

Dead in the Family was quite good! I look forward to hearing what you think of it when you read it.

lyssa027 February 7 2011, 04:57:11 UTC

Heh, I'm hoping it will be out in paperback by the time I go to Houston in March, so it can be a plane read ;-)

hamsterwoman February 7 2011, 05:18:33 UTC

That's a good idea! Hope the timing works out.

gogoratchet February 6 2011, 05:31:15 UTC

I really look forward to your Sisters Red review. It was one of my favorite books last year.

hamsterwoman February 6 2011, 06:03:26 UTC

That should be in the next batch :) I picked it up because you and/or Katie had such good things to say about it, and I'm definitely finding it interesting. The sibling relationship is quite fascinating, and I really like Rosie so far, though I do have some problems with the worldbuilding -- but maybe those will be addressed later on, as I'm only about halfway through the book at the moment.